Natural History Wanderings

The New York Times recently reported on how hummingbirds fly in the rain. A drop of rain can weigh as much as 38 % of the bird’s total body weight. Researchers simulating rain in a lab watched how Anna’s Hummingbirds responded.   They found that the birds made few adjustments to light or moderate rain but  when subjected to heavy rain the birds responded by adopting more horizontal body and tail positions, increasing the frequency of their wingbeats and decreasing the flapping angle through which the wings moved. Read more at:

 Hummingbirds Switch Gears to Keep Flying Through Downpours – NYTimes.com.

Proceedings of the The Royal Society of Biological Sciences: Flying in the rain: hovering performance of Anna’s hummingbirds under varied precipitation

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